In September, we headed to Southampton International Boat Show to talk about the importance of seagrass and our Blue Meadows project. We are delighted that we were able to have these important conservations with a very special guest too…
Southampton International Boat Show is the biggest of its kind in the UK, and is the perfect opportunity for us to engage with the boating community who interact with seagrass meadows on their vessels.
Our interactive stand allowed visitors to engage with every aspect of our seagrass conservation work, from finding out how we are protecting and allowing seagrass to regenerate, to learning more about our innovative seagrass restoration techniques. Throughout the week we delivered talks on the Boating Academy Stage, and also did mermaid shows to engage the younger attendees of the show with captivating stories! We had Ocean artefacts that visitors could handle for a tactile experience, as well as virtual reality headsets to immerse people in the wonders of seagrass meadows.
We were also delighted to launch our Mini Meadows Ocean Fund, a pioneering new initiative that enables individuals to directly support hands-on seagrass conservation. Excitingly, this is a first of its kind way for individuals to support an Ocean habitat, so we were delighted to launch it at this international event!
Many people have never seen seagrass in real life before, so we took a 200 litre seagrass exhibit with us, featuring living seagrass, so people could see it with their own eyes. It was a definite crowd pleaser, but we were particularly excited to have a very special guest come and take a look – Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal! After watching her talk at the British Marine Reception for RYA’s The Green Blue, we were inspired by her understanding of the degradation of the marine environment, and how the use and development of sustainable materials is so important. It was great to have the chance to talk to her more about sustainably using the Ocean so both nature and people can thrive together.
If you want to find out more about our Blue Meadows project, then click on the button below.